


Wear Your Heart On Your Sleeve

by decadent_mousse



Series: We Don't Skip A Beat [4]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alcohol, Established Relationship, Fluff, Heartbeat Kink, M/M, Sleepy Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-03
Updated: 2014-07-03
Packaged: 2018-02-07 05:31:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1886829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/decadent_mousse/pseuds/decadent_mousse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermann and Newt have very different ideas of what is and isn't appropriate behavior at a party.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wear Your Heart On Your Sleeve

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks once again to everyone who's encouraged me to keep going with this particular line of fics. <3

Newton had been dancing, bouncing, and shimmying his way around the room for the past hour.  To say he was the life of the party would have been a bit misleading, since that would imply he was the center of attention – which he wasn’t – but he was certainly giving it his best effort.  He kept flitting around the party, stopping periodically to talk to someone or laugh at some joke before zipping across the room in a manner vaguely reminiscent of a hummingbird.

Hermann was absolutely not smiling fondly at the display, because that would imply that he condoned Newt’s reckless disregard for people’s personal space – which he _didn’t_.  He hadn’t been keeping an eye on Newton’s drinking, because he was his lover not his keeper, but if he had to guess, he would say he had drank more than his fair share.

“Hermann!  Honey!   _Babe_!”

Alright, he didn’t have to guess.

Newton Geiszler was a very affectionate person even under normal circumstances, particularly when it came to physical contact.  His love of hugging, holding hands, and just _touching_ in general was rivaled only by his love of kaiju biology and rock and roll.  Once there was alcohol in his system, he lost what few inhibitions he had to start with.  This being the case, Hermann wasn’t surprised when Newt unceremoniously collapsed onto the couch beside him – nearly landing in his lap, he was so close – and hooked an arm around his shoulders.

“Hi.”

“Enjoying yourself?”

“Not as much as Tendo is.”  Newton laughed loudly, grinning brightly in a way that _did things_ to Hermann’s insides.  “Dude’s playing strip poker with the Kaidonovskys.”

Hermann was inclined to think he’d either misheard what Newton had just said, or Newton simply didn’t know up from down in his current state, but he glanced across the room and Tendo was indeed playing poker with the Kaidonovskys – though it was too early to tell whether it was _strip_ poker or not.  Two of the Weis were watching with the game with interest, and the other was across the room talking to Mako.

Chuck Hansen was standing by a dubious-looking punch bowl, eating a sandwich and looking as sullen as usual.

“Wow,” Newt breathed, and Hermann, turning his gaze back to the poker game, thought at first that he was referring Aleksis taking off his shirt – a spectacle that had gotten nearly everyone’s attention.  Then he felt Newton grab his hand and tug it towards his body.

“Newton,” he said with a sigh, “now is hardly the time for–“  He lost track of whatever he’d been going to say.

He wasn’t sure what he’d thought the other man was going to do with his hand, but he hadn’t expected him to press it firmly to his chest, and now Hermann was suddenly keenly aware of Newton’s heart thumping against his palm.

“Do you feel that?”

Hermann swallowed.  “Yes.”

“Pretty fast, huh?”

“Well,” he replied, doing his best to ignore how his own pulse had begun to race, “that’s hardly surprising.  You haven’t stopped moving since this party started.”

“I’m just high on life, dude.”

“Clearly.”

Newt leaned in and nuzzled Hermann’s cheek affectionately.  “I can feel my blood pumping everywhere.”

“I’m no biologist, but I’m reasonably certain that’s because it _is_ , in fact, pumping everywhere.”

“Well, yeah, but I can _feel_ it,” Newton replied, kissing a path along his jawline.

Hermann bit back a noise that would have been wildly inappropriate to make in a crowded room.  He could almost feel Newton’s pulse moving up his hand and humming through his arm, and he wasn’t certain if it was a product of the intensity of the other man’s pulse or if it was just his imagination.  

Good lord, Newton’s heart was beating _very_ fast.  

“Do I need to be worried about you?”

“Gee, I dunno, Dr. Gottlieb,” Newt whispered in his ear.  “Maybe I need to be examined.”

“You know full well that I am not that kind of doctor.”

“That’s never stopped you before.”

He tried to focus on his breathing, in and out slowly, ignoring how it was beginning to feel very _hot_ in the very crowded – very _public_ – room and that having a warm, extremely amorous Newt wrapped around him was not helping.  “Newton, now is _not_ the time or the place.”

“Let’s get outta here, then.”

Hermann side-eyed him.  Newton grinned and wiggled his eyebrows.

~ 

By the time they reached their quarters, Newton was leaning on him more than a little and seemed to be maintaining only the bare minimum of consciousness required to remain upright at all.  Hermann sincerely doubted he was in any condition to follow through on any of the lewd things he’d whispered in his ear on their way back.  

Hermann disentangled himself from the other man so he could open the door, leaving the other man to blearily prop himself up against the nearby wall.  

“Everything feels kind of lopsided, dude.”

Hermann frowned as he wrestled with the lock.  “That’s because you are drunk.”

“I’m not– okay, I’m a _little bit_ drunk.  Y’know, that tone’s a little hypocritical coming from a guy who’s trying to unlock his door with the wrong key.”

He looked at the key.  Newton was right.  He made a noise that was fifty percent embarrassment and fifty percent the alcohol currently sloshing around uncomfortably in his stomach.  Yes, he supposed it was possible he wasn’t entirely sober himself.

“These keys look very similar.”

Newt grinned at him.  “Uh huh.”

The door finally swung open with a loud creak and Newton staggered away from the wall.  Hermann grabbed him gently but firmly by the shoulder as he wobbled, guiding him into their room.

~

Newton sat on the edge of the bed and untied the laces of his boots before kicking them off unceremoniously.  They bounced in Hermann’s direction and he had to awkwardly sidestep to avoid tripping over one.

“Oops,” Newt said sheepishly, running a hand through his hair, leaving it an even more disheveled mess than it already had been.  “Sorry, man.”

He just rolled his eyes and sat down carefully beside him.  He divested himself of his coat and sweater and was about to move on to his shirt and pants when he saw the other man out of the corner of his eye, still mostly clothed and wrestling with his tie.

“What’s _with_ this thing?” Newton grumbled.

“Maybe if you didn’t tie it into such a tight knot, you wouldn’t have this problem.”

“It’s _not_ a problem, I’ve got this.”

Hermann sighed and reached over, batting Newton’s frantic hands away.  “Let me.”

Newt’s hands dropped to his sides and he blinked at Hermann several times before smiling and leaning forward to kiss him.  Hermann hadn’t finished with the tie yet, and it was even harder to untangle the borderline impossible knot without being able to see what he was doing.  He managed it eventually, however, and once he did he grasped both ends of the tie and tugged Newton closer.

Newt made an eager noise and sucked on his lower lip, cupping Hermann’s face in his hands.  He tried to do… _something_ … with his tongue, but his coordination is current state left something to be desired and it ended up more sloppy than sexy.  He rubbed his nose against Hermann’s and however charming it was, it seemed more like the act of a man about the fall asleep than a man in the mood to make love.

After two or three minutes passed, Hermann said, “Newton.”

“Mmm?”

“You’re falling asleep.”

“Am not,” Newt protested, face mashed up against Hermann’s, any actual mouth activity – or _any_ activity, for that matter –having ceased roughly two or three minutes beforehand.  

Hermann’s neck was actually starting to get sore from the pressure of effectively holding up both his own head _and_ Newton’s.

“Okay, so maybe… maybe we should take a rain check on the sex thing.”

Hermann felt an unexpected surge of relief.  Now that they were away from the bustle and noise of the party, he was far less aroused and more drowsy than he had been earlier.  

Newt pulled away with a sigh that ended up sounding more like a groan.  “Okay.  Okay, c’mere.”

Newton collapsed back onto the bed with enough force to make the mattress bounce, dragging the startled and moderately disgruntled mathematician right along with him before he had a chance to protest.  Not that Hermann let that stop him from protesting _after_ the fact.

“Newton, this is not comfortable.”

“M’sorry.”

He sighed.  “It’s alright, just… move your legs a bit and give me some room, would you?”

The other man spread his legs, one knee going up in the air and coming perilously close to smacking him in the face.  Hermann nudged Newton’s leg, and when that just earned him a confused grunt, he shifted his weight and moved his legs to a more comfortable position that put less pressure on his hip.  He managed to scoot upward a bit before Newton wrapped his arms around him and all but crushed him to his chest.

He ended up with a face full of the other man’s shirt and had to turn his head to be able indignantly sputter, “ _Newton_.”

“Mmm?  What?  What’s the matter?”

Newt's grip around Hermann's shoulders loosened.  Hermann’s head was positioned in such a way that he could hear his heart beating loudly up against his ear.  Now that Newton was prone and more relaxed, it had slowed to a calmer rate than it had been earlier.

“Never mind,” Hermann replied softly.  “It’s fine.”

Newt hummed, pleased, and rubbed Hermann’s back absently and mumbled something mostly incoherent under his breath.  His heart rate gradually slowed down more as his breathing deepened, and before long the steady thudding of his pulse was punctuated by the occasional low rumble of a snore.

Hermann let his eyes drift shut.  "Yes, yes.  I love you, too."

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally going to contain actual sex, but then I went the way of the fluff. Besides Newt was in *no* condition. XD


End file.
